Boston-based private equity fund of funds manager HarbourVest Partners has announced the promotions of seven investment professionals, with Jeffrey Keay and Christopher Walker becoming pri
Boston-based private equity fund of funds manager HarbourVest Partners has announced the promotions of seven investment professionals, with Jeffrey Keay and Christopher Walker becoming principals, Laura Thaxter being appointed senior vice-president, and Valérie Handal, John Nelson, Sandra Pasquale and Michael Pugatch promoted to vice-president.
‘Our employees are HarbourVest’s greatest assets,’ says senior managing director Edward Kane. ‘These individuals offer a level of experience and depth matched by few managers in private equity.’
Another senior managing director of the firm, Brooks Zug, adds: ‘We are pleased to announce such well-deserved appointments. These investment professionals have worked very hard to build and maintain our solid reputation, and I’m confident that they will continue to add significant value to our firm and our investors.’
Keay joined HarbourVest in 1999 and is a member of the secondary investment team, where he focuses on investments in limited partnerships and portfolios of direct investments both inside and outside the US.
Walker joined the firm in 1998 and is currently a member of the primary partnership team, where he focuses on US venture capital and buy-out partnership investments and sits on the advisory boards of a number of partnerships.
Thaxter was recruited in 2000 to develop the marketing and client communications group and oversees the firm’s global communications, investor relations, corporate branding and fund raising.
Handal joined HarbourVest’s London office in 2006 to focus on secondary investments in limited partnerships and portfolios of direct investments, primarily in Europe.
Nelson joined the firm’s accounting team in 1999 and is currently responsible for producing financial information on its funds, reviewing general partner financial information and handling limited partner financial requests.
Pasquale joined HarbourVest’s treasury group in 2004 and is responsible for monitoring daily cash levels and banking relations, establishing and maintaining credit lines, and implementing new technologies.
Michael Pugatch joined the secondary team in 2003 and has been involved in the acquisitions of a number of direct private equity portfolios and the structuring of synthetic secondary and structured transactions.
HarbourVest has 170 employees, including 65 investment professionals at offices in Boston, London and Hong Kong. In 25 years of investing in private equity, the team has committed more than USD17.6bn to newly-formed funds, representing relationships with 200 private equity managers worldwide.
The team has also completed over USD3.9bn in secondary purchases of partnership interests and invested USD3.1bn directly in operating companies. The firm’s clients consist of 240 institutional investors, including pension funds, endowments, foundations, and financial institutions in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan.
